Exploration
by Cinn
Summary: An idea that came out of bordem, don't know what will happen. I am going to try not to pair crew memers up this time. Basically just a general fic about space exploration on Enterprise - not based on an episode. Restarted and some parts rewritten.
1. Exploration

Disclaimer: usual, do not own anything to do with start trek apart from merchandise and abilities to watch it on TV. etc.

Cinn: I started writing this a long time ago, when I was a lot younger, back when I was still at secondary school. So it's safe to say that it wasn't up to much back then. So I've decided to rewrite the first two chapters and carry on with the fic. This was going to be my effort that didn't get me flamed into oblivion and back, so hopefully I can get that bit right. If anyone really cares what the original chapter was like, I could add it to the end of this one or something, but I doubt anyone really cares.

* * *

Introduction:

Exploration.

* * *

Another day, and so another meeting and another discussion about their course heading. Today Captain Archer was listening to T'Pol, Malcolm, Travis and Hoshi present the data about the nearest systems to their current position. It had been a while since they had run into any inhabited planets, and so that was what their Captain would want most of all, and so T'Pol had made them leave that till last - again - so that he would listen to all the other options.

"Our last option is a planet about 5 light years away." Hoshi stated, clicking buttons on the screen in the middle of them so that it would come up on the screen on the wall, and allowing her to go over the data at the same time. "Scans show about 2 billion humanoid bio-signals."

Archer turned back to the four faces that had been behind him whilst he scanned over the data that Hoshi had presented with him, and his gaze fell onto T'Pol. "You really could start to put the inhabited ones first." He said with a wry grin.

T'Pol said nothing and her expression was quite blank as well, and they all knew she had no intention of following that particular order, whilst over the last year she had become a lot more loyal to them than to the Vulcan high command, she was by no means completely on their side yet. Malcolm, Travis and Hoshi all looked a bit amused.

"I take it we're setting a course to this one then?" Malcolm asked, before the amused silence ran on more than was efficient.

Archer turned back to the screen with the data on it, and quickly glanced over it again. "I think this looks the most interesting, and our last exploration did turn out to only be archaeological, I think some living people might be nice this time."

There was a murmuring of agreement and then it was decided and so they all returned to their stations knowing what they had to do in preparation for arrival at their chosen destination.

They had only been in space for a year but Archer couldn't help but think about how well organised and efficient his crew had become. They'd proven themselves more times than he'd have liked though. He quickly downloaded the planet data onto a PADD and then headed to his chair and carried on reading. He had learned a long time ago that it was always best to learn as much as he could before diving in head first - not that he always did this, but this time he had time in which he could think of nothing else to do.

Though for this mission he'd be happy if Trip and Malcolm did not end up in the same situation they had when they'd gone on shore leave to Risa a couple of months ago.

* * *

Cinn: I don't usually write an AN at the end of a chapter any more, but I'm making an exception for this chapter. I apologise for it's length, but the original chapter wasn't very long. Also I feel I should thank the two people who reviewed the original fic. Dunno if either of them are reading this, but thank you anyway.

KaliedescopeCat - I shall do my best to correct my spelling (I have a spell checker now :) ) and the next chapters will probably be longer than this.

Jen717 - When I first wrote this I didn't specify if I didn't think it important, think I've corrected that now. Also, I'll make sure I get my tech-facts correct before attempting to put it in, well, I'll try.


	2. Anticipation

Cinn: Next chapter! Bit over excited then. The main thing I need to say at this point is that the names used in this chapter I have made up, so they might be a little odd. I would appreciate reviews.

* * *

Chapter 2.

Episodes - lots of weird little 'episodes' can happen to people.

* * *

Later that day Captain Archer walked towards the Mess Hall, his mind swimming with information about the planet they were currently on course to. Such as their warp capabilities, and various small snippets of information about their culture and a few names.

When he arrived in the Mess there were very few people in there, and he suddenly realised that it was quite late. He walked to the protein re-sequencer and ordered coffee and then looked around the room as it poured his drink. He spotted T'Pol a couple of tables away sitting with a drink in front of her and reading through a PADD.

He collected his mug and wandered over to her. "This seat taken?"

"No." T'Pol replied calmly, she did not mind not having company, she liked the quietness, but she did not object to someone wanting to sit near her so long as they did not interrupt her terribly. It was true that by now people were accustomed to being quiet around her, as she was not into idle chit-chat, but there was something about the silent company that a few of them had grown to like.

Archer tried his drink for temperature, and after a gulp of it decided to try to break the silence that hung in the air. "Still working?"

"Yes." T'Pol replied, she paused before deciding to add some detail. "I ran a couple of diagnostics this afternoon and I am still awake so I might as well review the data before tomorrow."

"Anything that needs worrying about?"

"Not so far, I run these once a month to make sure that there are no unnoticeable problems." T'Pol explained, picking up her tea to drink a bit more of.

Archer nodded and the silence fell again, apart from the occasional slurping sound of a drink being taken advantage of. There were background noises, there were a couple of people talking over their food, apart from that it was mostly the sound of food and drink being consumed. Archer looked down into his cup, realised there wasn't much left, drank what was left and then set the mug back on the table. He tried for a few minutes to think of something else to say to T'Pol, but thought of nothing.

Instead he stood up to leave. "Well, Goodnight Sub-commander."

"Goodnight, Captain." T'Pol replied, looking up from her work for a moment. Archer half expected a smile for a moment, and then remembered that she was Vulcan, and therefore didn't smile.

He then went to return the mug, and headed off to his quarters. He thought about reading some more, and then noticed exactly how late it was and decided to sleep instead.

They didn't arrive at their destination until lunch-time the next day. T'Pol was in command of the bridge at the time so that the Captain had time to eat. She promptly informed him of their arrival, and as she expected he'd soon hurried up from his lunch to investigate. Though it was apparent he'd felt the need to leave his lunch with a mouthful of food, for he was incapable of words for a few moments. Which everyone else found slightly amusing, and even T'Pol could see why, not that anyone could have guessed.

"We've arrived at the Quarian planet, Sir." T'Pol repeated as Archer took his seat and she gracefully sat down at her science station again.

"On screen." Archer replied a second later when he could speak again.

Hoshi pressed a few buttons and the planet came up on the screen, and after glancing at her Captain she magnified the image a bit to help stifle his curiosity. However he asked her if she could get in any closer, so she did, increasing the magnification enough for them to be able to see some of the architecture as well as a good view of part of the planet.

Archer looked at his bridge staff with an almost satisfied smile, and then looked at the structures some more. "Well, the buildings aren't what I expected." He added. The closest to any Earth style the buildings came to was ancient Roman, but they were by no means exactly like that. They were built into the swampland, the plants seemed to be as much of the buildings as the rock that they'd been built from. Though on second glance the area that Archer had originally thought was swamp looked very dry, and appeared to be more of a desert than it looked.

"I thought these people had warp capability?" Malcolm asked.

"They do." T'Pol replied, she was the one who had the least expectations of what they were about to get, as she knew that the style of the buildings did not necessarily say everything about a people's technological abilities, it was more a statement of the importance of aesthetics to them. It didn't take more than those two words to make Malcolm feel reprimanded enough.

It was just as Archer was about to ask that Hoshi to try and contact a leader of the Quarians that they were contacted by a small scout vessel that approached them from a satellite not too far away from where they'd taken up orbit.

After a few fun moments of non-communication between the two ships whilst Hoshi got the translator warmed up the language barrier was overcome, and they could both communicate and understand each other. They could see what they assumed was the captain of the scout ship, she had yellow skin, and her hair and eyes were a vibrant red. Her appearance was very similar to human, but she had a much longer face which resulted in a longer nose and therefore bigger gap between her eyes and mouth, it also seemed a bit flatter. Also the lobes on her ears seemed to point down, but they were not pointed like T'Pol's, but more round. Her uniform was a deep purple colour, it had five green lines across the left shoulder, which Archer assumed showed her rank. "This is Lashna of the starship Kaavar, who are you and what is your purpose here?"

"I'm Captain Archer of the starship Enterprise, our mission is of exploration and peace."

Lashna seemed to consider this. "Our people are also interested in cultural exchanges." She explained with a smile. "I shall speak to my people about organising a small meeting for us to mutually check each other's intentions. Please remain in this orbit, and we shall contact you with our decision." She said, and Archer barely had time to agree before she cut the connection.

"Well, they don't seem overly friendly." Malcolm commented.

"I would call it distrusting rather than unfriendly." Archer replied with a smile, sitting down again. "The question I'd rather know is how long it'll be before they contact us again."

They were waiting for about an hour, during which time they took scans, whilst Archer wandered around the bridge reading over people's shoulders trying to occupy his mind. Patience was not a virtue he had, he did his best, but they all knew he'd rather not have to wait around. When the comm went off again they all looked up, Archer walking towards Hoshi and almost instantly telling her to answer it, but he managed to slow down enough to make it sound a little less like an order.

This time it was a man who appeared on the screen, his hair was more orange than red, and his skin was more lined, and face a little rounder than Lashna's. "Is this Captain Archer?" He asked, they judged his gender based on the deepness of his voice, the also guessed that from both his tone and the lines in his skin that he was older than Lashna.

"Yes, and may I ask who you are?" Archer replied, he knew that this man was scrutinizing them as much as they were doing to him.

"I am Quar El-sia-o of Yengu."

"Quar El-sia-o, me and my crew are on a mission of exploration and we were wond-"

"I know what your mission is." Quar El-sia-o replied. Archer was wondering why he had to get a dignitary whose name was such a mouthful. "We have arranged a meeting, three hours from now, I do not know what time that is for you."

"1700 hours in our time." Archer replied, trying to be helpful.

From the lack of expression on Quar El-sia-o's face they were unsure as to whether that information had been received well or not. "I'm sending you the co-ordinates to meet us by. We'll expect your shuttle in three hours, we ask that no more than three of you come down at first."

Archer looked to Hoshi who nodded to say that she'd received the coordinates. "We have your coordinates. Is there anything we need to know before we meet?"

"I do not think so." Came Quar El-sia-o's reply. "You have spoken to Lashna already?" It wasn't really a question, more of a statement. "She will be watching your movements whilst in orbit, so we'll know if you act suspiciously."

"Ok." Archer replied. "Then we shall see you at 1700."

Quar El-sia-o nodded solemnly before switching off the comm-link from his end and Hoshi did the same at theirs. Archer let go of a breath that he hadn't been aware that he'd been holding, and sank back down into his seat.

"So, where about is Yengu?" He asked, looking to Hoshi, her reply was bringing up a map of the planet and zooming in on the coordinates given to them.

"If Yengu is where he lives then it's this city here." She replied, as the image zoomed in on a city on the north-east of a southern continent.

A silence fell over everyone, as thoughts were circulating their minds. Malcolm was wondering how hostile these people were and how likely it was that this was a trap, evaluating the small amount of information he had on the people they were about to make in his mind. Travis and Hoshi were both mildly concerned about how their Captain would break through this obvious distrusting nature of the Quarians. T'Pol was not concerning herself with that issue, but instead had started researching the effects of the alterations in the planets atmosphere would affect their crew - or more specifically how long they could be exposed to it without danger.

All of these thoughts flitted through Archer's head, but it was his communication that concerned him the most. He had faith in T'Pol and Malcolm in preparing those he took for those issues that they could control, but it was down to him to make sure that the Quarian's to trust him and his crew if this mission was to succeed. His main worry was that they did not know what they were going to do or ask in this meeting. He now needed to decide who to take with him as well.

So for the intervening hours everyone went over all the scenarios they could think of in their heads, trying to prepare for as many as they could. Eventually it came to be the time that they had to be making a move. So Archer called Malcolm and Hoshi with him, to head down to the shuttle pod. T'Pol went with them to brief them on the dangers of the environment.

"I believe it will be safe to breathe, though a little unusual, their nitrogen to methane ratio is different to ours. It will be much warmer than you are used to. I would also recommend that you don't use the phase pistols." T'Pol said as the four of them walked.

"Then what do you suggest we use to defend ourselves if we need to?" Malcolm asked. "Rocks?"

"Their atmosphere has a higher methane content, which is highly flammable, without more time I'm not entirely sure how volatile it is in the presence of the phase pistols." T'Pol replied. Malcolm wasn't sure if she'd answered his question or not. "There is also the question of if they are unstable as to whether taking them will add to their distrust." T'Pol added.

Before Malcolm had chance to argue Archer interjected. "We're taking them. They have viewed us with distrust, they can't complain if we return the favour." He said firmly. Whilst T'Pol could see his reasoning, she was not completely convinced, but then again, she was not sure which way she would have decided either. She had not made an overall decision on which would be best as she was not in charge.

After some quick final checks Archer, Malcolm and Hoshi all boarded the shuttle and T'Pol left them to launch after the pre-flight protocols had been run through. They had just launched as she arrived back on the bridge, and she couldn't help but wonder whether or not Archer's determination to meet new cultures might just end badly. Again. 


	3. Trust

Cinn: After a few experiments I've discovered that I have difficulty getting accents right in speech, so you'll have to imagine stronger accents such as Trip's. This is the start of the completely new stuff, it was chapters 1 & 2 that were rewritten. But this is chapter 3, and I hope you like it. Reviews are always appreciated.

* * *

Chapter 3.

Trust

* * *

"Let's just hope their hours aren't different from ours." Archer commented as he piloted the shuttle towards the coordinates sent to them. He was trying to make a joke, but then realised that on reflection, that that really was something he should have checked rather than assuming that the Quarians used standard hours.

The rest of the short journey was consumed by them rechecking all their essentials, such as comm devices. Malcolm was also trying to think of a weapon that would be safe, for T'Pol's warning about the methane was still ringing in his ears.

They arrived to find no one around the area in which they had been told to land. It was a clearing in amongst all the forest, and there seemed to be a lack of anyone around. All three of them thought that the forest in a desert was a bit odd, for where there were no trees the ground had burnt away to dust, but somehow the trees had survived.

"I'm glad we have this desert gear now." Malcolm commented, wiping his brow on his arm. Being from England hot weather was not something he was necessarily accustomed too. Archer and Hoshi merely smiled, and they all carried on watching around for the people who were supposed to be meeting them, Hoshi tapping buttons on her scanner rather than look out for people like both the men were. About five minutes later they arrived.

Quar El-sia-o arrived with a group of three men, all armed, but their weapons holstered. Hoshi knew from her scans that there were other men around, but remaining in the trees, she guessed there were only to intervene if things turned ugly. But she felt wary of them all the same.

"Quar El-sia-o." Archer greeted, holding his hand out to shake, mostly out of instinct than anything. Quar El-sia-o eyed it suspiciously, whilst returning the verbal greeting. "Sorry, it's an Earth custom." Archer explained, retracting his hand.

"Interesting." Quar El-sia-o commented. "May we see?" He asked, indicating to Archer and Malcolm. Who then proceeded to shake hands as requested. "We greet each other like this." He added, as he walked up to one of his colleagues and whilst they did not shake hands they both clasped the right hand shoulder of the other. "That way you can greet either leisurely or quickly."

"Our quick greeting is simply a wave." Archer explained.

"Interesting that it should be different." Quar El-sia-o commented, and Archer was reminded of a few Vulcan's he'd met, who were curious but very reserved. It was at this point that Quar El-sia-o noticed their weapons. "Are they phase guns?" He asked, it was at that point that Archer noted his worry.

"They are." Archer replied. "And we do apologise for them, we know the extra risk they pose, but we have no other, and whilst we are on a peaceful mission, we have been attacked once too often to go without any kind of weapon." He added, hoping his explanation would alleviate their worry.

Quar El-sia-o looked thoughtful for a moment, and then, spoke softly to one of his colleague's, who promptly disappeared into the trees, and then a few minutes later returned carrying three weapons, looking like the ones that they were carrying. "If you agree to store yours in your vessel you may use these, so that we may both be armed until we have established if the other can be trusted."

Archer nodded, and they collected the weapons as they put their own into the shuttle pod to be left there. Malcolm was next to speak. "May I quickly test that they fire, on the dry sand?" He asked, pointing his at the patch of sand he was referring too. Quar El-sia-o understood, and nodded once, and Archer could tell that he did not like the idea. Malcolm did indeed test his, and then nodded his thanks and holstered it.

"Come, we have arranged a small meeting place where we can eat and talk." Quar El-sia-o said, he was happy he had allowed the test, because the man had kept his word, and it showed that they had not tried to deceive them with faulty weapons.

They went to this place, where there was a table full of food, and the appropriate number of empty plates, after Quar El-sia-o had explained their customs they all started, though Hoshi was the one who had the least problems with the cutlery. As they ate they discussed their separate cultures and customs, and they all introduced themselves, and each talked briefly about their specific lives rather than their culture.

They also talked about names, for Quar turned out to be a title, and El-sia-o a surname, which lengthened with age, after every twenty years another syllable was added, the syllable apparently depended on their job/career at the time. It also seemed to be a personal choice to use your surname or first name as your given name. Like-wise Archer, Malcolm and Hoshi explained about human names and titles.

After the meal was over they decided that it was time that they returned to their ship, and so they headed back to the shuttle pod, and returned the borrowed weapons. Another meeting was arranged for the next day, and then they set off back to the ship, all three of them thinking that it had been slightly too smooth. Normally something would have happened, even if it had just been someone tripping over their seat.

They arrived back at the Enterprise and reported what had happened, and transferred the scans they had taken over to the main computer, and Malcolm immediately took to work on devising a way of modifying the weapons to mimic the Quarian's so that they would not be more dangerous than intended. Hoshi went to update the files on the species with the information they had gathered, and Archer went to go and see what T'Pol had made of her second lot of scans, then headed down to see what Phlox had made of their physiology, and to be the case study of what effect the Quarian atmosphere had had on the human body.

Phlox insisted on scanning everything - as well as finishing feeding his bat - before he made any determination. With a grin he gave Archer his verdict. "Apart from a little over-heating you're fine. I wouldn't recommend staying down there for more than four or five hours at a time. I'll need more time before I can be exactly sure."

"Sure thing, doc." Archer replied, and made his way back to the bridge.

Meanwhile Malcolm had made his way to engineering to ask Commander Tucker whether Malcolm's theories for modifying the phase pistols. "Hey, Malcolm, what're you doing down here?" Trip asked, having just been walking the correct way to notice that Malcolm had just walked into engineering, and leant over the balcony to question him.

"I came to seek advice from your capable engineering skills." Malcolm replied curtly, watching as Trip made his way from the balcony to the ladder and half slide down it to reach Malcolm's level.

"I'm hurt that you think my engineering skills are only capable." Trip replied, continuing the joke, as was obvious from the grin on his face. Malcolm handed him the PADD.

"The atmosphere is unstable to phase pistols, and I need a way to make them less dangerous. I need to know if those modifications are even possible before I check with T'Pol that they're less likely to blow up the atmosphere." He explained, as Trip glanced up from the PADD for a moment.

That sparked off a conversation debating certain points of the phase pistol mechanism, both men were more than capable engineers, but they were working in an area that not everything was known. So they crossed points at times, and more than once they'd flipped the metaphorical coin for which method they'd try first.

Meanwhile T'Pol was scanning the planet trying to determine anything she could that would be helpful to establishing the best relationship possible with this species, half watching the rest of the bridge staff man their stations appropriately. She trusted them all to do their job properly, but she liked to check that this was the case, it wasn't a lack of trust, it was the need to know that she'd checked everything possible that it was working.

The next day they had decided that this time only Malcolm would be armed, but that Archer and this time Travis would store their phase pistols in the shuttle pod, just in case. But Archer had decided that he would trust Quar El-sia-o, or at least partly, hoping that again he would make sure that they were all armed to the same level. Whether that involved them disarming themselves or handing them weapons again.

This time their meeting seemed to go even better than last time, they exchanged information almost freely, and they were shown around the city that Quar El-sia-o assured them was Yengu when they asked. They almost didn't notice that their safety time was up, and when it was Quar El-sia-o insisted that they send down another away team to continue this exchange, however Archer suggested that instead Quar El-sia-o should come and visit the Enterprise. They were not surprised when Quar El-sia-o was hesitant, but he agreed, but asked for a couple of hours to make arrangements, they thought nothing of this and so agreed for him to arrive in three hours time. Quar El-sia-o said his main concern was the difference in atmospheres.

So they returned and spent the three hours doing a combination of their normal duties and preparing for Quar El-sia-o and his men coming to visit.

Once the three hours were almost up the small shuttle craft that had first approached them when they arrived asked for docking permission to deliver Quar El-sia-o and his men Par-y-an and Fa-shi-a. Archer and T'Pol greeted them, and started to give them a tour. Archer had met both Fa-shi-a and Par-y-an before. Fa-shi-a was the youngest and Par-y-an was one of the few female dignitaries. "It seems to be a world in which women have little interest." She had explained at some point during the tour - T'Pol had asked her about it.

It was just as they were leaving Engineering that they heard a comm message for Captain Archer. With a smile he apologised that he had better check it's urgency. "Archer." He replied, pressing the button to open the comm link back to Hoshi.

"Captain, there is an urgent message coming through for Quar El-sia-o." Hoshi replied. "They wouldn't say what it was about."

Archer's face fell into a confused thoughtful look, and he glanced at his guests, Quar El-sia-o did look a bit worried at this. "Ok, we're on our way up." He replied. "I think we might have to finish this a bit later." He said, and politely directed them towards the lift.

They arrived at the bridge and Quar El-sia-o wasted no time in asking Hoshi for the message, and cut through Archer mentioning that he could use his ready room for privacy. They were all taken aback by this forcefulness, so far Quar El-sia-o had been rather gentile towards them, if not very trusting, he had definitely showed no hostile side.

Hoshi looked at Archer who nodded and she pressed the buttons to return Lashna to the screen. They were all surprised - Hoshi included - at the state that her and her ship seemed to be in. "Quar!" Lashna almost shouted when she saw him. "You're still on the human ship." She sounded relieved.

"Yes, where else am I supposed to be?" Quar El-sia-o asked.

"They have stormed your home." Lashna explained. "Not everyone is sure if you were in at the time or if you had left in time."


End file.
